Bye Bye Eirjet
Yeup, I think that the cost of subbing in of a/c was what put an end to this company, although there were a number of other factors, including horrific delays in the first season(summer 2005) and the bad reputation that they gained from 8-12 hour delays. Especially in Cork where JWT/Falcon had most work contracted to eirJet.
There was also that infamous incident when an A320 landed in the wrong Derry "airport". This did not help their credibility.
I also think that poor fleet planning had a lot to do with it. They scheduled most charters for the weekend, as opposed to spreading it out a little more throughout the week, leaving them seriously exposed when an aircraft went tech. Which they did! This led to delays and subbing in of a/c, from anywhere eirJet could get them.I doubt those ad-hoc 757s L-1011s and 330s came cheap either.
The decision to operate so many W patterns from SNN to other Irish Airports must also be questioned. To be honest I think that the common sense of managment must have been quite poor, otherwise they would not have made the same mistakes over and over again.
That siad, I am sorry for all they staff and the fact that they know nothing concrete about their futures.